KR20170007141A - Communication method for performing touch action and communication device and user device for performing the method - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a communication method for performing a touch action, and a communication device and a user terminal for performing the same. The disclosed user terminal receives a beacon including estimated receiving strength in a location that is spaced a predefined distance apart from a communication device, measures a receiving strength of the received beacon, compares the measured receiving strength and the estimated receiving strength included in the beacon, and transmits an association request to the communication device when the measured receiving strength is more than or equal to the estimated receiving strength.

Description

Technical Field [0001] The present invention relates to a communication method for performing a touch action and a communication device and a user terminal performing the method,

The following description relates to a communication method for performing a touch action and a communication device and a user terminal for performing the method.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, demand for user terminals such as smart phones, wearable devices, mobile devices, and tablet computers has increased rapidly. Such a user terminal has high portability that can be carried by the user. A user can perform communication with a communication device by connecting a user terminal to a communication device such as an access point (AP) located nearby.

However, in order for a user to connect a user terminal to a communication device, a series of cumbersome operations are required such as selecting one of the peripheral communication devices displayed on the display of the user terminal and pressing a connection button. Moreover, the user terminal typically has a small display size to increase portability, which makes user operations on the user terminal more difficult.

Therefore, there is a need for a technique for easily connecting a user terminal to a nearby communication device.

The present invention can easily perform association establishment between a communication device and a user terminal by simply taking a user terminal within a connection allowable range of the communication device without any additional operation of the user terminal.

The present invention relates to a touch action for moving a user terminal close to a communication device without a series of operations for selecting a communication device such as an access point (AP) or a kiosk to which the user wants to connect the user terminal, The connection with the communication device can be easily performed.

The present invention can perform connection establishment and termination in close range communication without user intervention.

A communication method performed by a user terminal according to an exemplary embodiment includes receiving a beacon including expected reception strength at a predetermined distance from a communication device; Measuring a received strength of the received beacon, comparing the measured received strength and an expected received strength included in the beacon; And transmitting an association request to the communication device if the measured reception strength is greater than or equal to the expected reception strength.

In the communication method according to an exemplary embodiment, the expected reception strength can be determined based on the transmission strength of the beacon transmitted from the communication device and the path loss to the predetermined distance.

In a communication method according to an embodiment, the expected reception strength is based on transmission power (TX power), antenna gain, cable loss at the communication device, and path loss to the predetermined distance ≪ / RTI >

The step of comparing the measured reception strength and the expected reception strength in the communication method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes correcting the expected reception strength based on an antenna gain and a cable loss in the user terminal, The strength can be compared to the measured received strength.

A communication method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes receiving a next frame from the communication device when the measured reception strength is less than the expected reception strength, measuring a reception strength of the received next frame, And comparing the reception strength and the expected reception strength included in the next frame.

In a communication method according to an exemplary embodiment, the measured reception strength includes a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of a beacon received at the user terminal, and the expected reception strength is a predetermined distance from the communication device Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > RSSI < / RTI >

In the communication method according to an exemplary embodiment, the expected reception strength may include a value between +30 dBm and -226 dBm with a resolution of 1 dB in the beacon.

In a communication method according to an exemplary embodiment, the connection between the communication device and the user terminal established as the connection request is transmitted to the communication device may include an association timeout period (ATP) included in the beacon, May be terminated when no signal is received from the user terminal.

A communication method performed by a communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes: transmitting a beacon including expected reception strength at a predetermined distance from the communication device to a user terminal; And establishing a connection with the user terminal based on a connection request received from the user terminal, wherein the connection request is a request for connection between the user terminal and the beacon, And may be transmitted from the user terminal to the communication device based on the comparison result.

The connection request may be transmitted from the user terminal to the communication device when the reception strength of the beacon received by the user terminal is equal to or greater than the expected reception strength included in the beacon .

In the communication method according to an exemplary embodiment, the connection request may include, based on a result of comparing the estimated reception strength corrected based on the antenna gain and the cable loss at the user terminal with the reception intensity of the beacon received at the user terminal, And may be transmitted from the user terminal to the communication device.

In a communication method according to an embodiment, the expected reception strength may be determined based on a transmission strength of a beacon transmitted from the communication device and a path loss to the predetermined distance.

In a communication method according to an embodiment, the expected reception strength can be determined based on transmission power at the communication device, antenna gain, cable loss, and path loss to the communication device and the predetermined distance.

The method may further include disconnecting the connection with the user terminal when the beacon does not receive any signal from the user terminal during an association timeout period (ATP) included in the beacon.

A user terminal performing communication with the communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a communication unit for receiving a beacon including a predicted reception strength at a predetermined distance from the communication device; And a processor for determining whether to transmit an association request to the communication device based on a comparison result between the measured reception strength and the expected reception strength included in the beacon, And the connection request is transmitted to the communication device when the measured reception strength of the beacon is equal to or greater than the expected reception strength included in the beacon.

The expected received strength according to an embodiment may be determined by the communication device based on the transmission strength of the beacon transmitted at the communication device and the path loss to the predetermined distance.

In a user terminal according to an embodiment, the processor can correct the expected reception strength based on antenna gain and cable loss at the user terminal, and compare the corrected expected reception strength with the measured reception strength.

In a user terminal according to an exemplary embodiment, the processor measures a reception intensity of a next frame received from the communication device when the measured reception strength is smaller than the expected reception strength, It is possible to compare the expected reception strength included in the next frame.

A communication device for communicating with a user terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a communication unit for transmitting a beacon to the user terminal; And a processor included in the beacon a predicted reception strength at a position spaced a predetermined distance from the communication device and establishing a connection with the user terminal based on a connection request received from the user terminal, Is transmitted from the user terminal to the communication device when the reception strength of the beacon received by the user terminal is greater than or equal to the expected reception strength included in the beacon.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an association establishment between a communication device and a user terminal can be simply performed by taking a user terminal within a connection permission range of the communication device without any additional operation of the user terminal .

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a touch action (a touch screen) for moving a user terminal close to a communication device without a series of operations for selecting a communication device such as an access point (AP) touch action can be used to easily connect to a communication device.

According to one embodiment, connection establishment and termination in proximity communication may be performed without user intervention.

1 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between a communication device performing communication and a user terminal according to an embodiment.
2 is a diagram illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating a process in which a communication setup between a communication device and a user terminal is performed as a user terminal accesses the communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram illustrating a process in which a predicted reception strength determined in a communication apparatus is corrected in a user terminal according to an exemplary embodiment.
5 is a diagram for explaining a beacon transmitted from a communication device to a user terminal according to an embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a process of terminating a connection between a communication device and a user terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.
FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining power save performed in a user terminal according to an embodiment.
8 is a diagram illustrating a communication method according to another embodiment.

Specific structural or functional descriptions of embodiments are set forth for illustration purposes only and may be embodied with various changes and modifications. Accordingly, the embodiments are not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed, and the scope of the present disclosure includes changes, equivalents, or alternatives included in the technical idea.

The terms first or second, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but such terms should be interpreted solely for the purpose of distinguishing one element from another. For example, the first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as a first component.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, although other elements may be present in between.

The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, the terms "comprises ", or" having ", and the like, are used to specify one or more of the described features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, But do not preclude the presence or addition of steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning of the context in the relevant art and, unless explicitly defined herein, are to be interpreted as ideal or overly formal Do not.

The embodiments described below can be used to perform communications. Embodiments can be implemented in a variety of products such as smart phones, wearable devices, mobile devices, tablet computers, personal computers, laptop computers, smart home appliances, kiosks, intelligent automobiles, For example, the embodiments can be applied to perform communication in a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable device, and the like. Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference symbols in the drawings denote like elements.

1 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between a communication device performing communication and a user terminal according to an embodiment.

Referring to Figure 1, user terminals 120-1, 120-2, and 120-3 located at various distances from communication device 110 and communication device 110 are shown.

The communication device 110 is a device capable of exchanging data with surrounding user terminals 120-1, 120-2, and 120-3. For example, the communication device 110 may be a High Rate Close Proximity Coordinator (HRCP) A point-to-point coordinator device, a kiosk, a payment terminal, a ticket gate, an access point (AP), and the like. The communication device 110 according to an exemplary embodiment may perform communication with a user terminal located in the vicinity using peer to peer (P2P) communication.

At this time, the communication device 110 may have the communication range 111 and the connection range 112. [ The communicable range 111 means a range where the beacon transmitted from the communication device 110 can be effectively received by the user terminal or a range where the communication device 110 and the user terminal can physically communicate with each other, For example, a distance of up to 10 cm from the communication device 110. [ The communication device 110 may have a connection permission range 112 separately from the communication availability range 111. Herein, the connection permission range 112 indicates a range in which commencement of communication connection establishment to the communication device 110 is permitted , And can be narrower than the communicable range (111). The connection tolerance range 112 may be set at the communication device 110 and may be set to include an area spaced a maximum of 1 cm from the communication device 110, for example. The user terminal initiates the connection establishment only within the connection permission range 112 and can perform communication within the communication availability range 111 after the connection is established.

The user terminals 120-1, 120-2, and 120-3 are terminals capable of exchanging data with the communication device 110 using wireless communication, and may be, for example, a smart phone, a wearable device, A computer, and the like. The user terminals 120-1, 120-2, and 120-3 may be allowed to communicate with the communication device 110 based on the distance from the communication device 110. [

1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the present invention between the user terminals 120-1, 120-2, and 120-3 and the communication device 110 as the user terminals 120-1, 120-2, A description will be given on the assumption that a communication connection is established.

The user terminal 120-1 shown in Fig. 1 can not effectively receive the beacon from the communication device 110 to the terminal located outside the communication coverage 111. [ Thus, the user terminal 120-1 can not communicate with the communication device 110. [

The user terminal 120-2 can effectively receive the beacon from the communication device 110 to the terminal located in the coverage area 111. [ However, the communication connection between the user terminal 120-2 and the communication device 110 is not allowed because the user terminal 120-2 is not located within the connection permission range 112. [

The user terminal 120-3 can effectively receive the beacon from the communication device 110 to the terminal located in the communication coverage 111. [ Further, since the user terminal 120-3 is also located in the connection permission range 112, a communication connection between the user terminal 120-3 and the communication device 110 can be allowed.

In order to allow a communication connection only to the user terminal 120-3 located within the connection coverage 112 as well as the communication coverage 111, the communication device 110 transmits connection trigger threshold information To the user terminals 120-1, 120-2, and 120-3 located nearby. Specifically, the communication device 110 may include the expected reception intensity of the beacon received at the boundary of the connection permission range 112 as the connection trigger threshold information in the beacon.

The user terminals 120-1, 120-2, and 120-3 measure the reception strength of the beacon transmitted from the communication device 110, and compare the measured reception strength and the expected reception strength included in the beacon, It is possible to determine whether the terminals 120-1, 120-2, and 120-3 are located within the connection permission range 112. [ If it is determined that the user terminals 120-1, 120-2, and 120-3 are located in the connection permission range 112, the user terminals 120-1, 120-2, The connection to the communication device 110 can be triggered by transmitting an association request to the communication device 110.

Such a connection method is called a touch action, and a distance of the connection permission range 112 may be referred to as a touch action restriction distance.

The process of performing association establishment between the user terminals 120-1, 120-2, and 120-3 and the communication device 110 will be described later in detail with reference to FIG.

2 is a diagram illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, a communication method performed at the communication device 110 and the user terminal 120 is shown. Specifically, each of the communication device 110 and the user terminal 120 may include a communication unit and a processor.

In step 201, the communication device 110 may determine the expected reception strength at a location spaced a predetermined distance from the communication device 110. [ Here, the predetermined distance means a distance from the communication device 110 to the boundary of the connection permission range 112 in FIG. 1, and a position spaced by a predetermined distance from the communication device 110 corresponds to the connection permission range 112). ≪ / RTI > At this time, the expected reception strength determined in the communication device 110 may be determined as a value of an expected received signal strength indicator (RSSI).

For example, the communication device 110 may determine the expected reception strength based on the transmission strength of the beacon transmitted from the communication device 110 and the path loss to a predetermined distance. Alternatively, the communication device 110 may experimentally measure the reception intensity of the beacon sensed by the user terminal 120 at a position spaced a predetermined distance from the communication device 110, and actually experimentally measure the received reception intensity . In the following, the expected reception strength is described on the basis of an example in which the expected reception strength is determined based on the transmission strength of the beacon transmitted from the communication device 110 and the path loss to a predetermined distance, It does not exclude the example of deciding by century.

In step 202, the communication device 110 includes the expected reception strength in a beacon and transmits it to the user terminal 120. At this time, the communication device 110 can transmit beacons including the expected reception strength at regular intervals.

At step 203, the user terminal 120 measures the received strength of the beacon received from the communication device 110. [ For example, the user terminal 120 may measure the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) value of the received beacon by the received strength.

At step 204, the user terminal 120 compares the measured reception strength and the expected reception strength contained in the beacon. The user terminal 120 may determine whether the measured reception strength is greater than the expected reception strength. If the location of the user terminal 120 is not within the connection range of the communication device 110, the reception intensity of the measured beacon at the user terminal 120 becomes smaller than the expected reception intensity. When the measured reception strength is smaller than the expected reception strength, the user terminal 120 determines that the user terminal 120 is not located within the connection allowable range of the communication device 110, and until the next beacon is received from the communication device 110 You can wait. If the next beacon is received from the communication device 110, the user terminal 120 may repeat step 203 and step 204. [

If the measured reception strength is greater than or equal to the expected reception strength, then at step 205, the user terminal 120 transmits a connection request to the communication device 110. The reception strength of the beacon measured at the user terminal 120 located within the connection allowance range of the communication device 110 becomes larger than the expected reception strength and the user terminal 120 transmits a connection request to the communication device 110 Thereby enabling the connection with the communication device 110 to be triggered.

In step 206, the communication device 110 may send an association response to the user terminal 120 in response to a connection request sent from the user terminal 120. [ Alternatively, the communication device 110 may transmit an acknowledgment (ACK) for the connection request to the user terminal 120 in response to the connection request transmitted from the user terminal 120. [

Even if the user terminal 120 is located within the communication range of the communication device 110 and effectively receives the beacon through the above-described communication method, the connection is not requested to the communication device 110, A connection to the communication device 110 can be requested only when the device 110 is located within the connection permission range of the device 110. [ That is, connection establishment between the communication device 110 and the user terminal 120 located within the connection permission range of the communication device 110 can be performed.

If the connection between the communication device 110 and the user terminal 120 is performed and the user terminal 120 is located within the communication coverage even if the user terminal 120 is out of the connection allowable range, Can be maintained. However, even if connection establishment between the communication device 110 and the user terminal 120 is performed, if the user terminal 120 is out of the communication coverage range, the connection setting between the communication device 110 and the user terminal 120 is terminated .

3 is a diagram illustrating a process in which a communication setup between a communication device and a user terminal is performed as a user terminal accesses the communication device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, there are illustrated user terminals 120-1, 120-2, and 120-3 located at various distances relative to the communication device 110. As shown in FIG.

In this case, the user terminal 120-1 receives the beacon from the communication device 110 in a valid manner (i.e., receives the beacon from the communication device 110) can not do. Therefore, connection establishment between the communication device 110 and the user terminal 120-1 is not performed.

The user terminal 120-2 indicates a terminal located within the communication coverage as the user terminal 120-1 approaches the communication device 110. [ However, the user terminal 120-2 is still not located within the connection tolerance. In this case, the user terminal 120-2 can effectively receive the beacon from the communication device 110 and measure the received strength of the received beacon. The user terminal 120-2 can compare the measured reception strength with the expected reception strength contained in the beacon and determine that the measured reception strength is smaller than the expected reception strength. The user terminal 120-2 may wait until the next beacon is received from the communication device 110 as the measured reception strength is determined to be less than the expected reception strength.

The user terminal 120-3 indicates a terminal located within a connection permission range or a connection permission range as the user terminal 120-2 further approaches the communication device 110. [ In this case, the user terminal 120-3 can effectively receive the beacon from the communication device 110 and measure the received strength of the received beacon. The user terminal 120-3 can compare the measured reception strength with the expected reception strength included in the beacon and determine that the measured reception strength is equal to or greater than the expected reception strength. The user terminal 120-3 may transmit a connection request to the communication device 110 as the measured reception strength is determined to be equal to or greater than the expected reception strength.

The communication device 110 may send a connection response to the user terminal 120-3 in response to a connection request from the user terminal 120-3 and thereby communicate with the communication device 110 and the user terminal 120-3, Can be performed.

4 is a diagram illustrating a process in which a predicted reception strength determined in a communication apparatus is corrected in a user terminal according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 4, a communication device 110 and a user terminal 120 are shown.

, 안테나 이득(antenna gain)

, 케이블 손실(cable loss)

을 이용하여 EIRP(Effective Isotropically Radiated Power)을 결정할 수 있다. 여기서, 송신 전력

은 통신 장치(110)의 RF단에서 출력되는 비콘의 전력을 의미한다. 그리고, 통신 장치(110)는 EIRP에서 미리 결정된 거리에 대한 경로 손실

을 뺌으로써 예상 수신 세기

를 계산할 수 있다. 경로 손실

은 비콘의 전송 거리에 따라 발생하는 손실을 의미하는 것으로, 미리 결정된 거리가 증가할수록 해당 전송 거리에 대한 경로 손실

도 함께 증가할 수 있다.The communication device 110 transmits the transmission power TX power at the communication device 110,

Antenna gain,

Cable loss,

Can be used to determine EIRP (Effective Isotropically Radiated Power). Here,

Means the power of the beacon output from the RF terminal of the communication device 110. The communication device 110 then determines the pathloss for a predetermined distance in EIRP

The estimated reception strength

Can be calculated. Path loss

Means a loss occurring according to the transmission distance of the beacon. As the predetermined distance increases, the path loss

Can also increase.

를 하기의 수학식 1과 같이 계산할 수 있다.To summarize, in the communication device 110,

Can be calculated as shown in the following equation (1).

, 안테나 이득

, 케이블 손실

, 경로 손실

에 기초하여 예상 수신 세기

를 결정할 수 있다.That is, the communication device 110 transmits the transmission power

, Antenna gain

, Cable loss

, Path loss

0.0 >

Can be determined.

를 측정할 수 있다. 이 때, 사용자 단말(120)에서 측정된 비콘의 수신 세기

는 사용자 단말(120)에서의 안테나 이득

, 케이블 손실

이 포함되어 측정된 결과이다. 따라서, 측정된 비콘의 수신 세기와 비콘에 포함된 예상 수신 세기를 비교할 때, 사용자 단말(120)에서의 안테나 이득

, 케이블 손실

을 고려해야 한다.The user terminal 120 receives the beacon and determines the reception intensity of the received beacon

Can be measured. At this time, the reception strength of the beacon measured by the user terminal 120

0.0 > antenna gain < / RTI >

, Cable loss

Are included. Therefore, when comparing the measured reception beacon reception strength with the expected reception interference included in the beacon, the antenna gain at the user terminal 120

, Cable loss

.

, 케이블 손실

을 고려하여 비콘에 포함된 예상 수신 세기를 보정할 수 있다. 구체적으로, 사용자 단말(120)은 예상 수신 세기에서 안테나 이득

을 더하고 케이블 손실

을 뺌으로써, 예상 수신 세기를 보정할 수 있다.The user terminal 120 may be configured to receive antenna gain < RTI ID = 0.0 >

, Cable loss

The expected reception strength included in the beacon can be corrected. In particular, the user terminal 120 estimates the antenna gain

And cable loss

The expected reception strength can be corrected.

와 비교할 수 있다.Then, the user terminal 120 calculates the estimated reception intensity corrected as shown in Equation (2) by the reception intensity of the measured beacon

≪ / RTI >

The accuracy of the determination as to whether the user terminal 120 receiving the beacon is located within the connection permission range can be improved in the above-described manner. Although there is an error in the antenna gain or cable loss and an estimation error due to the fading channel may occur when the corrected received signal strength is compared with the received signal strength of the measured beacon, Even if it exists, the effect may be minimal.

5 is a diagram for explaining a beacon transmitted from a communication device to a user terminal according to an embodiment.

5, there is shown a beacon 500 transmitted from a communication device to a user terminal.

The communication device may transmit the beacon 500 with the Expected RSSI 510 indicating the expected reception strength. For example, the Expected RSSI 510 has a resolution of 1 dB and can be set to appear in the beacon in the range of +30 to -226 dBm.

When the expected RSSI 510 is included in the beacon 500 and transmitted to the user terminal, the user terminal can determine whether to transmit the connection request based on the Expected RSSI 510.

If the Expected RSSI 510 of the beacon transmitted to the user terminal includes a specific value (for example, "0"), the user terminal that has received the beacon always transmits the connection request To the communication device. In this case, it can be seen that the touch action is disabled. In this case, however, the user terminal should be located within the communication range of the communication device.

Also, the beacon 500 may include a Recommend ATP (association timeout period) 520. Recommend ATP contains the recommended ATP length value in the communication device, has a resolution of 1 ms, and can range from 0 to 65535 ms. For example, it may be desirable for ATP to have a value between 0 and 500 ms. Recommend ATP will be described later with reference to Fig.

In the beacon 500 of FIG. 5, the Expected RSSI 510 has 1 octet and the Recommend ATP 520 has 2 octets, but this is only an example, and the embodiment is not limited thereto.

In addition, the beacon 500 may include disconnection threshold information as well as the Expected RSSI 510 corresponding to the connection trigger threshold information. Using the disconnection threshold information, the connection between the user terminal and the communication device may be terminated if the user terminal is located a predetermined second distance away from the communication device.

For example, the communication device can transmit the data frame or the ack frame transmitted to the user terminal (for example, the second beacon transmitted from the communication device after the connection setting between the communication device and the user terminal is performed) have. The user terminal receiving the frame can measure the reception intensity of the corresponding frame and compare the reception intensity of the measured frame with the second expected reception intensity included in the one-wire threshold information. If the received strength of the measured frame is less than the second expected received strength, the user terminal may determine that the user terminal is located a predetermined second distance away from the communication device and terminate the connection with the communication device. Conversely, if the received strength of the measured frame is greater than or equal to the second expected received strength, the user terminal may maintain a connection with the communication device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a process of terminating a connection between a communication device and a user terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.

Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown a user terminal 120-3 located in a communication coverage area of the communication device 110 and a user terminal 120-1 moved to a communication impossible area.

The user terminal 120-3 is a terminal located within the communicable range of the communication device 110, and the connection between the user terminal 120-3 and the communication device 110 may be valid. At this time, the beacon transmitted from the communication device 110 to the user terminal 120-3 may include ATP. ATP may be determined through negotiation between the communication device 110 and the user terminal 120-3 when the user terminal 120-3 is connected to the communication device 110. [

When the communication device 110 fails to receive any data from the user terminal 120-3 for the time specified in the ATP, the communication device 110 can terminate the connection with the user terminal 120-3. In this example, as the user terminal 120-3 moves away from the communication device 110, the user terminal 120-1 is located in the communication disablement range. In this case, the user terminal 120-1, The communication device 110 can not transmit any data to the user terminal 120-1. If the communication device 110 does not receive data from the user terminal 120-1 during the ATP, the communication with the user terminal 120-1 can be terminated.

In order to quickly terminate the connection with the user terminal 120-1 when the user terminal 120-1 moves within the communication impossible range, the ATP value must be small. If the communication with the user terminal 120-1 that has moved to the communication impossible range because the ATP value is not sufficiently small can not be quickly terminated, even if the user terminal 120-1 enters the communication disablement range, the user terminal 120-1 May be continued, and at this time, a vulnerability may occur in which another terminal can continue to use a session that continues after establishing a connection with the communication device 110. [ Therefore, the ATP value should be sufficiently small (for example, an ATP value of 0 to 500 ms) so that the above-described vulnerability does not occur.

In another example, there may be a case in which there is temporarily no frame exchanged between the user terminal 120-3 and the communication device 110 located within the communication coverage, and in this case, (110) may operate in a power save mode for a predetermined time. However, when operating in the power saving mode for a longer time than the ATP, the connection between the user terminal 120-3 and the communication device 110 may be terminated during the power saving mode. To prevent this, the time interval of the power saving mode should be set shorter than the time interval of the ATP. However, if the ATP time interval is set to be shorter than necessary, the time interval of the power saving mode becomes shorter, and the power saving efficiency may be lowered. Therefore, the ATP value should be set in consideration of these factors.

That is, even though the communication device 110 and the user terminal 120-3 operate in the power saving mode, they must wake up simultaneously before the ATP value expires. After the user terminal 120-3 wakes up, it transmits the data to be transmitted to the communication device 110, or if there is no data to be transmitted, transmits a frame such as a probe request and an ACK so that the ATP does not expire do.

The user terminal 120-3 transmits a keep alive frame such as a probe request and an ACK to the communication device 110 periodically before the ATP expires, thereby preventing a vulnerability caused by shortening the ATP, Can continue the session with < / RTI >

In addition, by setting the ATP value to be short, ATP can be expressed in one octet in the beacon, thereby effectively reducing the frame size of the beacon.

For example, if the time spent in moving the user terminal 120-3 from the communication device 110 to the inability to communicate is 0.3 to 0.35 seconds and the user terminal 120-3 is connected to the communication device 110 Assuming that the time spent for moving to the boundary of the communication coverage is 0.2 seconds, the time required for moving the user terminal 120-3 out of the communication coverage range near the boundary of the communication coverage of the communication device 110 is 0.1 ~ 0.15 seconds. When this time has elapsed, a connection termination must occur. In the case described above, the ATP can be set to 127 ms and the ATP can be expressed in 1 octet. The ATP value may be set to suit the service environment or the application provided for each manufacturer.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining power saving before connection establishment or connection establishment in a user terminal according to an exemplary embodiment. Referring to FIG.

Referring to Fig. 7, there is shown a user terminal 120-1 located within the communication disablement range and a user terminal 120-3 moved within the connection permission range.

The connection with the communication device 110 based on the beacon 710 received from the communication device 110 as the user terminal 120-1 located in the communication impossible range moves toward the communication device 110 for a touch action Can be performed. At this time, since the user terminal 120-1 can not know when the terminal will be located within the communicable range, the user terminal 120-1 always performs a reception attempt on the beacon 710 transmitted from the communication device 110 Should be. However, if the beacon 710 is continuously received while maintaining the wake-up state, much power may be consumed. Accordingly, the user terminal 120-1 can operate according to the power saving mode to minimize the power consumption, and a specific method thereof is as follows.

7, the time required for the user terminal 120-1 to travel from the boundary of the coverage area to the communication device 110 is 0.2 seconds, and the user terminal 120-1 is divided into the connection permission range 0.02 seconds to receive the beacon 710 until the user terminal 120-1 reaches the communication device 110 on the assumption that the time taken from the boundary of the communication device 110 to the communication device 110 is 0.02 seconds, You should wake up more than once in 0.18 seconds. That is, the user terminal 120-1 preferably wakes up more than once in the wakeup period shown in Fig. Also, once wake up, you should keep wake up as much as the beacon interval. Through this, the user terminal 120-1 can receive the beacon 710 by waking up within the communication coverage or connection permission range. Once receiving the beacon 710, the user terminal 120-1 continuously receives the beacon 710 while maintaining the wakeup state, and transmits the beacon 710 to the beacon 710 And may determine whether to transmit a connection request to the communication device 110 by comparing the expected reception strength included.

Assuming that the beacon interval is 2ms according to one embodiment, since the time required for moving the user terminal 120-1 within the connection permission range is 10 times that of the beacon interval, And may establish connection with the communication device 110 before reaching the communication device 110. Further, through the power saving mode described above, it is possible to improve the ratio of the power saving time to 98 to 99%.

8 is a diagram illustrating a communication method according to another embodiment.

8, user terminals 820-1, 820-2, and 820-3 located at various distances relative to a communication device 810 are shown.

The communication method described above is a passive scanning method in which the user terminal 120 establishes a connection with the communication device 110 based on the beacon received from the communication device 110. In FIG 8, 1, 810-2 and 810-3 are connected to the communication device 810 by transmitting a probe request to the communication device 810. [

The user terminal 820-1 indicates a terminal located outside the communicable range. In this case, the user terminal 820-1 can transmit the probe request with a power that can be transmitted by the connection allowable range. Thus, the probe request sent from the user terminal 820-1 is not received by the communication device 810. [

The user terminal 820-2 indicates a terminal located within the communication coverage as the user terminal 820-1 moves to the communication device 810. [ However, the user terminal 820-2 is still not located within the connection tolerance. In this case as well, the probe request transmitted from the user terminal 820-2 with the power that can be transmitted by the connection allowable range is not received by the communication device 810. [

The user terminal 820-3 represents a terminal located within a connection permission range or a connection permission range as the user terminal 820-2 further moves to the communication device 810. [ In this case, the probe request transmitted from the user terminal 820-3 with the power that can be transmitted by the connection permission range can be effectively received by the communication device 810. [

The communication device 810 may send a probe response to the user terminal 820-3 in response to a probe request received from the user terminal 820-3. The user terminal 820-3 receiving the probe response from the communication device 810 can confirm that the current position is within the connection allowable range and can transmit the connection request to the communication device 810. [ The communication device 810 can send a connection response to the user terminal 820-3 in response to the connection request received from the user terminal 820-3 and through the communication device 810 and the user terminal 820-3, -3) can be performed.

The embodiments described above may be implemented in hardware components, software components, and / or a combination of hardware components and software components. For example, the devices, methods, and components described in the embodiments may be implemented within a computer system, such as, for example, a processor, a controller, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, such as an array, a programmable logic unit (PLU), a microprocessor, or any other device capable of executing and responding to instructions. The processing device may execute an operating system (OS) and one or more software applications running on the operating system. The processing device may also access, store, manipulate, process, and generate data in response to execution of the software. For ease of understanding, the processing apparatus may be described as being used singly, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the processing apparatus may have a plurality of processing elements and / As shown in FIG. For example, the processing unit may comprise a plurality of processors or one processor and one controller. Other processing configurations are also possible, such as a parallel processor.

The software may include a computer program, code, instructions, or a combination of one or more of the foregoing, and may be configured to configure the processing device to operate as desired or to process it collectively or collectively Device can be commanded. The software and / or data may be in the form of any type of machine, component, physical device, virtual equipment, computer storage media, or device , Or may be permanently or temporarily embodied in a transmitted signal wave. The software may be distributed over a networked computer system and stored or executed in a distributed manner. The software and data may be stored on one or more computer readable recording media.

The method according to an embodiment may be implemented in the form of a program command that can be executed through various computer means and recorded in a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, and the like, alone or in combination. The program instructions to be recorded on the medium may be those specially designed and configured for the embodiments or may be available to those skilled in the art of computer software. Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs; magnetic media such as floppy disks; Magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include machine language code such as those produced by a compiler, as well as high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware devices described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of the embodiments, and vice versa.

Although the embodiments have been described with reference to the drawings, various technical modifications and variations may be applied to those skilled in the art. For example, it is to be understood that the techniques described may be performed in a different order than the described methods, and / or that components of the described systems, structures, devices, circuits, Lt; / RTI > or equivalents, even if it is replaced or replaced.

110: Communication device
111: Available communication range
112: Connection tolerance
120-1, 120-2, and 120-3:

Claims (19)

A communication method performed by a user terminal,
Receiving a beacon including expected reception strength at a location spaced a predetermined distance from the communication device;
Measuring a received strength of the received beacon, comparing the measured received strength and an expected received strength included in the beacon; And
Transmitting an association request to the communication device when the measured reception strength is greater than or equal to the expected reception strength;
. The method according to claim 1,
The expected reception strength is calculated by:
The transmission strength of the beacon transmitted from the communication device and the path loss to the predetermined distance. The method according to claim 1,
The expected reception strength is calculated by:
Wherein the transmission power is determined based on a TX power, an antenna gain, a cable loss and a path loss to the predetermined distance in the communication device. The method according to claim 1,
Comparing the measured reception strength and the expected reception strength,
Correcting the expected reception strength based on an antenna gain and a cable loss at the user terminal, and comparing the corrected expected reception strength with the measured reception strength. The method according to claim 1,
Receiving a next frame from the communication device when the measured reception strength is less than the expected reception strength and measuring a reception intensity of the received next frame, Comparing expected received signal strengths
Further comprising: The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the measured received strength comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of a beacon received at the user terminal,
Wherein the expected receive strength comprises an Expected RSSI of a beacon received at a location spaced a predetermined distance from the communications device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the expected receive strength comprises a value between +30 dBm and -226 dBm with a resolution of 1 dB in the beacon. The method according to claim 1,
The connection between the communication device and the user terminal established as the connection request is transmitted to the communication device,
And terminating when the communication device fails to receive any signal from the user terminal during an association timeout period (ATP) included in the beacon. A communication method performed by a communication device,
Transmitting to the user terminal a beacon including expected reception strength at a position spaced a predetermined distance from the communication device; And
Establishing a connection with the user terminal based on a connection request received from the user terminal
Lt; / RTI >
The connection request,
Wherein the beacon is transmitted from the user terminal to the communication device based on a comparison result between the reception strength of the beacon received at the user terminal and the expected reception strength included in the beacon. 10. The method of claim 9,
The connection request,
And if the reception strength of the beacon received at the user terminal is greater than or equal to the expected reception strength included in the beacon, the communication terminal is transmitted from the user terminal to the communication device. 10. The method of claim 9,
The connection request,
Wherein the communication terminal is transmitted from the user terminal to the communication device based on a result of comparing the corrected expected reception intensity based on the antenna gain and the cable loss at the user terminal with the reception intensity of the beacon received at the user terminal. 10. The method of claim 9,
The expected reception strength is calculated by:
The transmission strength of the beacon transmitted from the communication device and the path loss to the predetermined distance. 10. The method of claim 9,
The expected reception strength is calculated by:
The transmission power at the communication device, the antenna gain, the cable loss, and the path loss to the communication device and the predetermined distance. 10. The method of claim 9,
When receiving no signal from the user terminal during an association timeout period (ATP) included in the beacon, disconnecting the connection with the user terminal
Further comprising: A user terminal for performing communication with a communication device,
A communication unit for receiving a beacon including expected reception strength at a position spaced apart from the communication device by a predetermined distance; And
Determining whether to transmit an association request to the communication device based on a result of the comparison between the measured reception strength and the expected reception strength included in the beacon,
Lt; / RTI >
The connection request,
And if the measured reception strength of the beacon is greater than or equal to the expected reception strength contained in the beacon. 16. The method of claim 15,
The expected reception strength is calculated by:
Wherein the communication device is determined by the communication device based on a transmission strength of the beacon transmitted from the communication device and a path loss to the predetermined distance. 16. The method of claim 15,
The processor comprising:
Correcting the expected reception strength based on antenna gain and cable loss at the user terminal and comparing the corrected expected reception strength to the measured reception strength. 16. The method of claim 15,
The processor comprising:
Measuring a reception intensity of a next frame received from the communication device when the measured reception intensity is less than the expected reception intensity and comparing a reception intensity of the measured next frame and an expected reception intensity included in the next frame , User terminal. 1. A communication device for performing communication with a user terminal,
A communication unit for transmitting a beacon to the user terminal; And
A processor for establishing a connection with the user terminal based on a connection request received from the user terminal,
Lt; / RTI >
The connection request,
And if the reception strength of the beacon received at the user terminal is greater than or equal to the expected reception strength included in the beacon, the communication device is transmitted from the user terminal to the communication device.

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